Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?  —  Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics.  —  Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians?  According to a Zogby International survey that I write …

Voters' support for members of Congress is at an all-time low, poll finds  —  As voters head to the polls Tuesday for a crucial set of primary elections, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds antipathy toward their elected officials rising and anti-incumbent sentiment at an all-time high.

Obama: I would've fired BP chief by now  —  Ex-EPA lawyer brands oil company as ‘recurring environmental criminal’  —  msnbc.com staff and news service reports  —  President Barack Obama would have fired BP's CEO Tony Hayward over controversial comments downplaying the Gulf oil spill — if the executive had been working for him.

The sad farewell of Helen Thomas  —  Afew months ago, White House reporters settled on a system for preserving the sanctity of Helen Thomas's front-row-center seat in the briefing room.  On those frequent occasions when the 89-year-old legend didn't show up for a briefing …

An irrational, obscene hatred  —  Israel is a cartoon villain, beyond sympathy, beyond even redemption.  What is shocking - and frightening - is that the narrative the world accepts is always that of Israel as the evildoer.  —  Talkbacks (1)  —  Make JPOST.COM your Home Page  —  Iranian Threat

You Got Played  —  Now that Helen Hitler Thomas has been forcibly retired, more video of the interview miraculously has become available for viewing:  —  Here's the “appalling” transcript: … Clearly, this woman is evil beyond words.  The way she smiled at those Jewish kids while giving …

Pelosi delivers speech over screams of health-care activists  —  Raucous demonstrators greeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at a gathering of progressive activists in Washington on Tuesday morning, forcing her to yell her 28-minute policy speech over their loud and uninterrupted protests.

Health law could ban low-cost plans  —  Part of the health care overhaul due to kick in this September could strip more than 1 million people of their insurance coverage, violating a key goal of President Barack Obama's reforms.  —  Under the provision, insurance companies will no longer …

Van der Sloot Confesses to Killing in Peru  —  June 5: Joran van der Sloot is escorted by Peruvian police as he arrives at their offices in Lima.  —  Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, long the prime suspect in U.S. teen Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance in Aruba, has confessed to killing …

Tuesday targets: Nine races to watch  —  South Carolina's freak show politics, the progressive left's Arkansas muscle flexing, the astounding and obscene amount of statewide election spending in California — at least $120 million-plus and rising — all of it is part of Tuesday's dramatic primary election narrative.

White House is directing agencies to cut budgets  —  The White House is directing agencies to develop plans for trimming at least 5 percent from their budgets by identifying programs that do little to advance their missions or President Obama's agenda.  —  The request, made amid rising public anxiety …

‘A Very Deep Hole’  —  I know the president has a lot on his mind, but the No. 1 problem facing the U.S. continues to fester, and that problem is unemployment.  —  The jobs report for May, released on Friday by the Labor Department, was grim.  President Obama tried to put the best face on it …

Boehner ridicules Obama's healthcare town hall with seniors as PR gimmick  —  House GOP leader John Boehner (Ohio) went on the offensive Tuesday against an event in which President Barack Obama will promote his signature healthcare reform law to seniors.  —  Boehner ridiculed an online town hall …

Marriage equality for all couples  —  Nearly a century after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that “marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man.’ ” That 1967 case, Loving v. Virginia, ended bans on interracial marriage in the 16 states that still had such laws.

Leftist Tali Fahima converts to Islam  —  Woman who had affair with al-Aqsa Brigades commander Zubeidi, served time for aiding terrorists converts to Islam at Umm al-Fahm mosque.  ‘From now on she is a full-fledged Muslim,’ sheikh says  —  Sheikh Yusuf Albaz confirmed that Fahima converted.

WHITE HOUSE GONE WILD: Shirtless Favreau And Vietor's Sunday/Funday Beer Pong Match  —  Suns out, guns out... It's going to take more than a little oil and a brittle economy to keep these White House staffers down...or their shirts on.  Check out White House spokesman Tommy Vietor …

Lieberman Skeptical of His Own U.S. Senate Race Endorsement  —  Log in to Post a Comment  —  The Democrat-turned-independent U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman says he doesn't know who he will support or endorse in Connecticut's U.S. Senate race.  Will it be Attorney General Richard Blumenthal …

Student sitting behind Obama was asleep  —  Watch video for more  —  KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - One of the Kalamazoo Central students — who was seated behind keynote speaker President Barack Obama during Monday night's commencement ceremony — fell asleep.

2012 primary plans would keep N.H. first  —  WASHINGTON — Intent on preventing a repeat of the chaotic presidential primary schedule in 2008, Republican and Democratic parties are completing plans to create an orderly timetable that would push most contests back while ensuring …

Daring to Discuss Women in Science  —  The House of Representatives has passed what I like to think of as Larry's Law.  The official title of this legislation is “Fulfilling the potential of women in academic science and engineering,” but nothing did more to empower its advocates …

Art Laffer: Make Up Your Own Facts Here  —  To a man whose only tool is a hammer, pretty soon everything begins to look like a nail.  —  I couldn't help but be reminded of that aphorism as I read the most popular article on WSJ.com yesterday — Tax Hikes and the 2011 Economic Collapse …